Dispensing apparatus



June 4, 1968 G. s. HAVILAND 3,386,630

DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed May 19, 1966 22 U F|G.5

INVENTOR. GIRARD S. HAVILAND @W/MK ATTORNEY United States Patent 86,630 DISPENSING APPARATUS Girard S. Haviland, 39 Uplands Drive, West Hartford, Conn. 06107 Filed May 19, 1966, Ser. No. 551,279 Claims. (Ci. 222-309) This invention relates to dispensing apparatus of a hand held type for the delivery of fluids through a flexible resilient tube in quantities capable of precise control.

The dispensing of fluids through flexible resilient tubes is well known, in a broad sense, and desirable where contamination of the material to be dispensed is to be avoided. Such dispensers avoid contact between the material to be delivered and any part of the mechanism other than the conducting tube itself. Whereas such compressible tube types of dispensers, usually in the form of motor driven pumps, have been available in the past, there has been an unsatisfied demand for a hand held, manually actuated dispenser embodying these principles wherein predetermined quantities of material to be dispensed can be discharged at a uniform rate and in precise quantities, directly from a container.

It is accordingly, among the objects of the present invention, to provide dispensing apparatus comprising a housing having an internal wall, a flexible resilient tube engaging the wall and providing inlet and outlet ports, a housing cover mounted on the housing for rotation about an axis, at least two members carried by the cover in arcuately spaced relationship equidistant from the axis movable with the cover in a path occupied by the tube for compressing the tube, the wall having a portion concentric with the axis and an inwardly curved portion of progressively increasing radius with respect to the axis, a lever pivotally carried by the housing, and a one-way clutch interconnecting the lever and cover, whereby discharge from the tube is a direct function of movement of the lever in one direction. The clutch serving most satisfactorily comprises a helical spring interconnecting the lever and cover when the lever is moved in the clutching direction. The apparatus is provided with means resiliently biasing the cover into frictional engagement with the housing to preclude movement of the cover with respect to the housing when the lever is moved in a direction opposite to that which produces the clutching action. The apparatus is provided with means resiliently biasing the lever oppositely to the direction in which the lever is moved for clutching action. The apparatus includes a connector for application to a container which may assume the form of a plug or cap, and the connector is preferably provided with an axial slot through which a tube may be inserted or removed to facilitate assembly. The apparatus also contemplates a nozzle supported by the housing and in communication with the outlet port of the tube. The tube preferably engages the wall of the housing throughout an angle of substantially 360, in which event, the concentric portion of the wall and the portion of progressively increasing radius each extends over an angle of substantially 180. The apparatus is provided with means for adjusting the stroke of the lever relative to the housing, and the provision of calibrations is contemplated in order that the operator will have a visual indication of the relative movement between the lever and the housing to serve as a gauge of the quantity of the material to be dispensed.

A more complete understanding of the invention will follow from a description of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view depicting a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevation, partly broken away of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

3,386,630 Patented June 4, 1968 FIG. 3 is an elevation of the apparatus of FIG. 1 from a direction displaced from that if FIG. 2, with certain portions of the cover removed for purposes of clarity;

FIG. 4 is an elevation, corresponding with that of FIG. 3, of the housing only; and

FIG. 5 is a section taken along line 55 of FIG. 2.

A housing 10 has a radial edge 12 at its larger open end for reception of a cover 14 having an edge proximate to and abutting the edge 12 of the housing as best depicted in FIG. 5. The opposite end of the housing 10 contains an opening 16 for the reception of a sleeve 18 secured to a frame 20 carrying the actuating lever- 22. A screw 24 extends through the central opening of the sleeve 18 to receive a nut 26. A cap 28 is retained under the head of the screw 24 and a wave washer 30 is interposed between radial walls of the housing 10 and the frame 20, compression of which by tightening the nut 26 on the screw 24.

induces the desired frictional torque between the cover 14 and the radial edge 12 of the housing 10. Wave washer 30 maintains a small spacing between the internally facing shoulder on sleeve 18 and the bottom of housing 10 while simultaneously urging together with the same force the cap and cover and the housing and cover. The friction torque between the cover and housing is greater than that between the cap and housing since, as is well known, torque is proportional to the mean radii. This allows use of a simple spring clutch as will be described below.

The cap 28 is provided with a skirt 32 whose internal wall overhangs an external wall 34 of the cover 14. Interposed between these walls is a clutch spring 36 of helical form having one of its ends anchored to the cap 28 and its convolutions frictionally engaging the wall 34 of the cover 14. Accordingly, movement of the lever 22 in one direction transmits corresponding movement through the rotation of sleeve 18 to the cap 28 to which the sleeve is secured by screw 24. By virtue of the self tightening action of its convolutions about the wall 34, the spring 36 transmits the lever motion to the cover 1-4. Since movement of the lever 22 in one direction only will produce a clutching action, movement of the cover 14 will occur only as result of movement of the lever in that clutching direction. Return or retraction movement of the lever produces a declutching action which will not produce movement of the cover, since the spring convolutions are self releasing in that direction and only a slight frictional drag of the clutch spring will occur, to a degree insufficient to overcome the frictional torq ue produced between the cover and the edge 12 of the housing. Restated, in the common manner of operation of a spring clutch, if the control end of spring 36 is moved so as to tighten the coils (in the direction of spring wind), the light friction drag makes them tighten further whereas moving the end of the spring against the winding direction of the spring makes the spring expand and, therefore, loosen its light grip.

The cover is formed with a pair of shafts or journals 38, each of which projects into a tubular roller 40, the rollers serving as members for compressing a tube 42 against an internal wall 44 of the housing 10. The tube 42, of flexible resilient material, is introduced through a slot 46 formed axially through a connector 48 adapted for attachment to a jar or other receptacle. The tube is wound in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3 so as to lie in contact with the internal wall 44 of the housing, the leading end of the tube crossing over the trailing portion of the tube where it enters housing 10 from slot 46 and then being inserted in a transverse direction into a channel 50 carried by the housing, from the delivery end 52 of which a nozzle 54, in communication with the tube, projects. The internal wall 44 of the housing 10 is concentric with its axis 56 through an angle of substantially 180 in a clockwise direction from a point denoted A in FIG. 4, displaced approximately 27 from the vertical, to a point denoted B in FIG. 4. Then, from the point B to the point A, proceeding in a clockwise direction, the inwardly curving internal wall 44 of the housing has a progressively increasing radius with respect to the axis 56 so that as a roller advances in a clockwise direction from the point B to the point A, compression of the tube 42 in that arc becomes progressively less. Since compression of the tube in the are proceeding clockwise from the point A to the point -B is uniform, due to the concentricity of the wall relative to the axis throughout that arc, it will follow that discharge produced by depression of the lever 22 will be uniform for a given stroke of the lever.

The housing is provided with a cavity 58 for reception of a helical spring 60, one end of which is engaged by :1 lug 62 carried by the frame 20, serving to restore the lever 22 to its fully retracted position after it has been released by the operator. The housing also provides a stop 64 imposed in the path of an adjustable screw 66 carried by the lever 22 so that the length of the stroke of the lever can be varied. A spring 68 is interposed between the head of the screw 66 and the lever 22 to maintain the screw in any of its adjusted positions.

The frame is provided with a surface 70 bearing indicia 72 from which the operator can observe the degree of displacement of the lever 22.

When it is desired to remove a tube from the apparatus and replace it with another, the nut 26 will be loosened or removed from the screw 24, permitting rotation of the cover 14 in a direction opposite from that which it normally receives in operation, whereupon material within the tube will be pumped towards its source. When this action has been completed, the cover will be removed, the tube removed from the channel defined by the outer wall 44 of the housing and the connector 48, whereupon, the replacement tube will be installed in a similar fashion and the components reassambled for operation. Once installed, the replacement tube is primed by turning cover 14 and thus rollers 40 until liquid begins to come out the nozzle 54.

As noted above, the frictional relationships established between the housing and its cover, on the one hand, and between the cover and the lever on the other, are very important to the clutching action. The wave washer 30 exerts a single force in an axial direction, causing two friction torques during rotation, a very small one between the cover 14 and cap 28 which abut on a small diameter near the pivot axis, and a relatively large one between the cover 14 and the edge 12 of the housing 10. The clutch spring 36 likewise exerts a slight drag torque in one direction and a very large driving torque in the other. The torque between the cap and cover added to the light friction torque of the clutch spring during one direction of movement is always less than the torque restraining movement of the cover 14 at the housing edge 12. When the lever is moved in a dispensing direction, then of course, the clutch torque readily overcomes the torque between the cover and housing edge.

A wide variety of materials will be suitable for fabrication of the apparatus contemplated herein, including various types of plastic materials and light metals such as aluminum and zinc. It is also to be noted that, while the disclosed embodiment employs a pair of rollers, the number of rollers utilized will be equal to the fraction of the circle being pumped. In the disclosed embodiment, a 180 arc is being pumped and thus two rollers are employed. If however, the pumping is accomplished along an arc of 90", four rollers would preferably be employed. The critical point is that one roller must be on the retreating cam defined by the portion of the internal wall of the housing which has a progressively increasing radius with respect to the axis of the housing while another roller is pumping by compressing the tube against the portion of the internal housing wall which is concentric about the axis of the housing.

Whereas only one embodiment of the invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, such variations as will be suggested to those skilled in the art are contemplated as coming within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for dispensing material, said apparatus being adapted for connection to a reservoir for the material to be dispensed, the apparatus comprising:

a housing having an internal wall, said wall having a portion concentric with an axis of the housing and an inwardly curved portion of progressively increasing radius with respect to said axis;

a flexible resilient tube abutting said portions of said housing wall and providing inlet and outlet ports for the material to be dispensed;

a housing cover mounted on said housing for rotation about said axis;

at least two members carried by said rotatable cover, said members being movable with said cover along a path occupied by said tube for compressing said tube, said members being spaced equidistant from said axis and arcuately displaced from one another so that one of said members will be adjacent said wall portion having an increasing radius when the other of said members is adjacent said concentric wall portion;

a lever pivotably carried by said housing; and

a one way clutch interconnecting said lever and cover whereby discharge from said tube is a direct function of movement of said lever in one direction.

2. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said clutch comprises a helical spring.

3. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 including means resiliently biasing said cover into frictional engagement with said housing.

4. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 including means resiliently biasing said lever oppositely to said one direction.

5. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said housing includes a connector for application to a container.

6. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein frictional engagement between said housing and cover has a torque value exceeding that between said cover and lever during movement of said lever in one direction.

7. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said housing supports a nozzle in communication with the outlet port of said tube.

8. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said tube engages said wall throughout an angle of substantially 360.

9. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said concentric portion of said wall and said portion of progressively increasing radius each extends over an angle of substantially 180.

10. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 including means for adjusting the stroke of said lever relative to said housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,851,044 3/1932 Genovisi 222360 X 2,334,148 10/1943 Jones 103-149 2,668,637 2/1954 Gilmore 103l49 2,894,403 7/1959 Tomko 74-148 X 3,169,675 2/1965 Gutzmann et al 222360 ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

HADD S. LANE, Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING MATERIAL, SAID APPARATUS BEING ADAPTED FOR CONNECTION TO A RESERVOIR FOR THE MATERIAL TO BE DISPENSED, THE APPARATUS COMPRISING: A HOUSING HAVING AN INTERNAL WALL, SAID WALL HAVING A PORTION CONCENTRIC WITH AN AXIS OF THE HOUSING AND AN INWARDLY CURVED PORTION OF PROGRESSIVELY INCREASING RADIUS WITH RESPECT TO SAID AXIS; A FLEXIBLE RESILIENT TUBE ABUTTING SAID PORTIONS OF SAID HOUSING WALL AND PROVIDING INLET AND OUTLET PORTS FOR THE MATERIAL TO BE DISPENSED; A HOUSING COVER MOUNTED ON SAID HOUSING FOR ROTATION ABOUT SAID AXIS; AT LEAST TWO MEMBERS CARRIED BY SAID ROTATABLE COVER, SAID MEMBERS BEING MOVABLE WITH SAID COVER ALONG A PATH OCCUPIED BY SAID TUBE FOR COMPRESSING SAID TUBE, SAID MEMBERS BEING SPACED EQUIDISTANT FROM SAID AXIS AND ARCUATELY DISPLACED FROM ONE ANOTHER SO THAT ONE OF SAID MEMBERS WILL BE ADJACENT SAID WALL PORTION HAVING AN INCREASING RADIUS WHEN THE OTHER OF SAID MEMBERS IS ADJACENT SAID CONCENTRIC WALL PORTION; A LEVER PIVOTABLY CARRIED BY SAID HOUSING; AND A ONE WAY CLUTCH INTERCONNECTING SAID LEVER AND COVER WHEREBY DISCHARGE FROM SAID TUBE IS A DIRECT FUNCTION OF MOVEMENT OF SAID LEVER IN ONE DIRECTION. 